Ergonomic and workload consideration of rural female workers during different manual farm operations at PAU Ludhiana, Punjab

The present research study was directed with the intent to assess anthropometrical, physical, physiological parameters and subsequent postural discomfort of rural female operators during manual farm operations including weeding, spraying and harvesting operation. The weeding was carried out by hand hoe, spraying by knapsack sprayer and harvesting by sickle. The research was conducted in the agricultural farms of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. The anthropometric data was initially measured for the subjects having age between interval 20-50 years. Thereafter, the physiological variations resulting in selected subjects on account of effort required in distinct farm operations and the aftermath in body part discomfort score were taken into consideration. The average resting heart rate of female respondents was 82 bpm for weeding, 89 bpm for spraying and 92 bpm for harvesting operation. The average working heart rate during weeding, spraying and harvesting were investigated as 96.83, 99 and 105.83 (bpm) respectively. The average EER and OCR values for the concerned operations were 5.31, 6.35 and 7.65 (kJ/min) and 0.36, 0.42 and 0.54 (L/min) respectively. The BPDS values of selected subjects were ascertained as 19.5, 21.4 and 25.4 respectively. The findings conclude that the workers were more compatible and comfort in accomplishing weeding operation by hand hoe. The performance of workers was found best for the same operation followed by spraying and harvesting operation. For the safer and effective agricultural operation in rural parts of the nation, the need of ergonomics is the key in predicting the quotidian working performance of the respondents involved in farm operation thereby ensuring the proper productivity in man-machine interface.